Paintings of Terror

Chapter 143: The Adult World is Truly Terrifying

“From the cartoons that have already been determined and from the corresponding props that were obtained, the props corresponding to paper-cut cartoons are important markers in the film.” Luo Wei pointed to the red, round stone in his hand, then to Qin Ci’s fishing rod, and then continued to speak.

“People who correspond to cartoons with ordinary animation style are divided into three categories. One category is that people will get body parts, such as cat ears, rabbit ears, and dragon horns. People holding these props represent these animal characters in the cartoon.”

“The second category are people who get things related to the body, such as cat whiskers and clothes. The person holding this kind of prop isn’t the main character in the cartoon but instead has an important relationship with the protagonist.”

“For example, Mr. Zhu is the mouse in Good Kitty, and although I don’t know which role Mr. Ge plays in Black Cat Sheriff, he must be an important character in the cartoon.”

“The third category is for people who have obtained certain items and props. For example, Yaqing has a flower engraved copper pot, and Mr. Zhang Lifeng got two longan cores. Right now, we can’t be sure what cartoon their props correspond to.”

“But, if we look at the role the props played in the first two categories, can we conclude that these two props played a vital role in the main plot of their corresponding cartoon? Or, they might have a close relationship with the main character, to the point where they definitely aren’t background objects but are instead critical to the character.”

“If we use this as a prerequisite, will we be able to narrow the range of options to the greatest extent possible by searching in these listed cartoons? Does Mr. Mu agree with my speculation?”

A rare trace of appreciation appeared in Mu Yiran’s eyes, but his voice was as cold as ever. “I agree with your point of view.”

“It’s worthy of being a top student.” Ke Xun shook his tail, intentionally or unconsciously curling the tip around Mu Yiran’s legs. “Your ability to analyze and summarize problems isn’t bad. According to your guess, we can try to eliminate the cartoons that obviously don’t meet these requirements, and the rest we can discuss.”

“You had better be quick. Time won’t wait for anyone,” Zhu Haowen lightly reminded them.

After Qin Ci wrote down his title on the piece of paper in the box, he rushed over to help Li Yaqing and Zhang Lifeng study their corresponding cartoon with Ke Xun.

Since the two longan cores in Zhang Lifeng’s prop were more vague, they started with Li Yaqing’s prop, which was fairly easy.

Ke Xun and Qin Ci first narrowed the list down to all the cartoons with ancient backgrounds. Then they crossed out the cartoons that they knew didn’t contain things like copper pots. Of the titles that remained, they carefully went over the plot step by step.

Time was very tight. According to past practices, at 11 o’clock at night, all entrants could no longer leave the restricted area. Once they leave the area or don’t return to the area, they would either all die or be randomly selected to die.

Twelve o’clock was when death officially arrived.

Since there wasn’t much time left, everyone was nervous. All eyes were focused on Ke Xun and Qin Ci, both of whom were concentrating on thinking, as if they were performing a rescue surgery.

“I think it should be this cartoon, meow.” Ke Xun raised his head and pointed to a line on the paper to show Luo Wei and Li Yaqing. “Legends of the Book of Heaven is more likely than other cartoons, meow.”

“Are there any copper pots with engraved flowers in Legends of the Book of Heaven?” Wei Dong tried hard to remember.

Almost everyone present also made the same expression of being lost in memory. This cartoon was such a classic that many of them had seen it.

“There’s a treasure bowl in there, meow,” Ke Xun reminded everyone. “Meow, I have a deep impression of when the county magistrate’s father fell into the basin and a bunch of old men jumped out, yelling that I’m his father, no I’m his father. That plot made meow laugh to death.”

“Just write this,” Luo Wei told his girlfriend.

Li Yaqin was out of her wits, and did what her boyfriend said. With trembling hands, she wrote the words Legends of the Book of Heaven on the paper.

The next step was to help Zhang Lifeng screen his cartoon. However, the two longan cores were just too vague. Even if they used the method of elimination as proposed by Luo Wei, they still couldn’t narrow the list down.

Time passed, and seeing that there were only three minutes left before midnight, Qin Ci shook his head gently, as if announcing that rescue had failed.

On the verge of collapse, Zhang Lifeng pushed away from the crowd around him, rushed to the box, and wrote a name on the paper: Nine-Colored Deer.

Ke Xun looked at him. “Why did you write this name?”

Zhang Lifeng rubbed a hand over his face and said with a wry smile, “This is one of the few old domestic cartoons I’d seen as a child. I can hardly remember much about it, but I just remember that it has a deer spirit that could satisfy people’s wishes. I hope this deer can bring me luck…”

Ke Xun no longer spoke. He really didn’t think that the two longan cores belonged to the Nine-Colored Deer cartoon, but the name had already been written on the paper and it was useless to say anything more.

The time on their phone finally jumped to 12:00.

Everyone stood in front of their corresponding door, nerves tight, waiting for the imminent moment of death.

Ke Xun held Mu Yiran’s hand tightly, feeling calmer than ever.

They’ll be together in life and in death. Since this belief was planted in his heart, he no longer had any fear.

The yellow stars and moon patterns on the dark blue wall suddenly began to flicker, growing hazier and more distorted, as if a blurred dream had suddenly begun.

In the dream, the stars and moon lost their warmth and their lovely shapes, and gradually turned to adult faces. These faces had different expressions, ranging from anger, sorrow, despair, numbness, greed, and treachery. There were also lust, insidiousness, coldness, viciousness, hatefulness, hostility, gloating, groveling, and smiles that were bitter, grim, artificial, and insincere…

Every complex emotion that humans had were unabashedly displayed on these faces.

Li Yaqing screamed in terror and buried her head in Luo Wei’s arms. Wei Miao squatted down and hugged her head with trembling hands, not daring to look up again.

The men also looked at these faces on the wall with horror. Although these faces were unmoving, although they all displayed the truest expressions in people’s heart, it was these same stark truths that made them all the more terrifying.

Perhaps, no one had realized how terrifying it was to be presented so straightforwardly and so nakedly with so much negative emotions.

Humans were terrible.

No, rather, one should say that adults were truly terrifying.

When all the stars and moon had turned into human faces, a playful, childlike music burst out from the box in the middle of the room, like the opening song of a cartoon.

<<<Warning (sorry to interrupt): Descriptive gore below. If you don’t like gore, scroll to the end of the chapter for a quick summary.>>>

Within this lively and sweet music, Zhang Lifeng suddenly let out a scream, quickly drawing everyone’s eyes. They then saw that Zhang Lifeng was melting.

Yes, he was melting.

His skin slowly melted and flowed down like liquid toward the ground. As a result, his facial features became distorted, gradually blurring together. Only the black hole of his mouth was barely left, making a terrible cry.

After his skin had melted came his flesh and bones. Blood oozed bright red and thick, dripping like wax, slipping layer by layer down his body, staining the floor under his feet red and quickly spreading out.

Li Yaqing and Wei Miao were terrified.They screamed and cried, crawling on the ground, trying to get away. Wei Dong and Luo Wei’s faces turned pale.Ge Lei was shocked motionless, as if possessed. He watched blankly as Zhang Lifeng’s blood soaked the soles and sides of his shoes.

Zhang Lifeng’s screams gradually died out as his body melted to such an extent that no human shape could be seen. He was like an ice cream under the sun.

A person of flesh and blood had melted alive right in front of their eyes. Most of the floor in the room was covered with red, glaring blood, with not a single hair, a tooth, or even a nail left behind.

Wei Dong vomited into a corner of the room, and the two girls fainted from fright. Luo Wei bit his lip as hard as he could, for fear that he would be unable to control them.

Even Qin Ci, who was a doctor accustomed to seeing various methods of death, turned his face away, unable to bear looking.

Ke Xun lowered his head and put his forehead on Mu Yiran’s shoulder. Next to him, Zhu Haowen was the calmest. Now that he was colorblind, Zhang Lifeng’s blood was just a gray mass to him.

Everyone was shocked by the tragic state of Zhang Lifeng’s death. Suddenly, they heard a choking sound, followed by a loud and then a quiet thud, as if something had fallen to the floor one after another.

Mu Yiran, Ke Xun, Zhu Haowen, and Qin Ci, all of whom were still able to maintain their composure, turned to look in the direction of these sounds. They saw Qi Qiang’s body, whose head was no longer connected, suddenly fall.

His prop sword fell beside his body. However, even after falling to the ground, his head was still rolling, his severed neck dragging a thick, bloody trail on the floor.

Blood spurted from the severed arteries of Qi Qiang’s neck, spraying all over the walls and floors, adding to the large pool of blood that came from Zhang Lifeng’s melting. This room that was originally full of dreamlike childishness had suddenly turned into purgatory on earth.

For a long time, no one made a sound, and there were no movements. The room fell into a dead silence.

Although they were psychologically prepared to face death, the way these two people had died was so sudden and so cruel that it was difficult for them all to accept and think calmly.

What’s more, the death period had just begun, and no one knew if there would be a third person that would die so tragically in front of them.

The room plunged into an atmosphere of fear, tension, and total collapse. Everyone’s nerves were tense as they waited silently for an inescapable death blow.

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Summary of gory part: Zhang Lifeng (dude with the two longan cores) slowly melted into a pool of blood and Qi Qiang (violent dude with the sword) was decapitated.